1. Field of the Invention
The system described relates to a method and apparatus for playing a video game among a plurality of players over a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for screening the players by means of personal game statistics.
2. Related Art
In recent years multiplayer, online video games have become popular. Multiple players at locations which are geographically remote from each other are simultaneously enabled to play a video game over a public WAN, such as the World Wide Web (WWW), or proprietary WANs, such as America On Line (xe2x80x9cAOLxe2x80x9d) or the Microsoft Network (xe2x80x9cMSNxe2x80x9d). Typically such systems utilize a network server which operates the game being played. The individual players log onto the network server from their personal computers via the WAN using a graphical user interface (GUI). After entering a user name and a password, they are then enabled to play a game being hosted by the network server along with other players. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,980, entitled xe2x80x9cDistributed System for Communication Networks in Multiuser Applicationsxe2x80x9d; U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,879, entitled xe2x80x9cNetwork Gaming Systemxe2x80x9d; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,909, entitled xe2x80x9cReducing Latency When Synchronizing Access to a Multiuser Database over a Network.xe2x80x9d Another scheme involves directly connecting multiple players together via telephone lines after they have first logged into the network server and have been matched to each other. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,339, entitled xe2x80x9cNetwork Architecture to Support Recording and Playback of Real-Time Video Games.xe2x80x9d
A problem arises in that the players often have differing skill levels and game attribute preferences. For example, one player may want to play xe2x80x9cQuakexe2x80x9d only against other players having a skill level at least equal to his or her own skill level. Also, a player may only want to be matched with other players using the same type of weapon, e.g. a so-called rail gun. Still other players may want to play as teams against other players or teams of players having a certain skill level. If the players themselves are allowed to catagorize their own skill level, then there is at least a non-uniformity in their evaluations and frequently outright misrepresentation. There exists a need for a system wherein players are only matched against other players according to their skill levels.
The above and other problems of prior art online multiplayer game systems are met by the present networked game system for allowing one or more users to interactively play games from individual user terminals via a network and which includes a network server that interfaces with the user terminals via the network and one or more game servers connected to the network server. Each game server runs at least one game having multiple levels of play and playable by a plurality of users simultaneously. The game server includes a statistics generator for generating statistics for each game player, that is each user playing a game, as the at least one game is being played. Each game server periodically supplies the game player statistics to the network server.
The network server receives the game player statistics and dynamically changes the interface with each user terminal depending upon the game player statistics of the user of that user terminal. For example, a plurality of game servers can be connected to the network server, each game server running a different game, and the network server dynamically links a user to a particular game server as a function of the user""s game player statistics. The network server also limits which levels of play a user may enter depending upon the user""s game player statistics as supplied by the game server. The network server also determines characteristics attributable to each game player, including, but not limited to, weapons available for use by the game player, based on the user""s game player statistics.
In most cases, the network is the world wide web (WWW), the network server is a WWW server, and the WWW server uses a graphical user interface (GUI) to interface with the user terminals via the WWW. The user can input preferences through the GUI with respect to aspects of the game to be played and the WWW server links a user to a particular game server as a function of both the input preferences and the user""s game player statistics. The preferences can include a level of skill of other game players simultaneously playing a game as reflected by their game player statistics.
The users interfacing with the WWW server can input an election as to a preferred game to be played, and the WWW server controls the game server to load a game elected by the majority of users.
The WWW server and the game server can be either physically proximate to each other and directly connected together or geographically remote from each other and the WWW server interfaces with the game server via the network.
The foregoing and other objectives, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of certain preferred embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.